Another Unlikely Love Story

Prologue

Ashley

Ugh, I'm so tired.

I stumbled into my room and shut the balcony door, sweat and blood dripping off of my forehead and trickling down my neck. I limped over to my closet to retrieve a bloody towel I had hidden in the back and wiped off my forehead with it, recoiling at the slight touch to my open head wound.  After I was sure the bleeding stopped, I threw the towel back in the depths of my closet and recollected on the experience I just had in a dark alley four blocks away from my house.

Hopefully that ass hat learned his lesson, he sure put up a hell of a fight. I touched my forehead gingerly, pulling back with more blood on my fingers. That's going to leave a mark. I flicked on my lamp and looked in the mirror, staring at the sweaty mess I was in. I was wearing a cheap, black hoodie over my leather bodysuit. A full coverage black leather suit that I wear, is fireproof, waterproof, and so tightly woven that not even a knife can cut through it. I stripped out of my sticky costume, tossing it to the floor and replacing it with my oldest and softest pair of pajamas.

I had been out in the downtown area, wandering through dark alleys and helping people whenever I could. I had managed to return a little old lady her purse after some masked mugger grabbed it and ran. I had run after him and tackled him to the ground, throwing in a few punches on the way down. I had hit my head in the process, causing the small cut that was still trickling blood.

I heard a squeaky door open and then footsteps thumping down the hall, so I flicked off my light and took a flying leap towards my bed, misjudging the distance from where I was standing. I face planted on the floor, just barely catching myself so I didn't fall on my nose and break it, but still making a loud thump as I crashed to the hard, unforgiving hardwood. Another small stream of blood slid down my face, reopening the small cut on my forehead. I rested my cheek on the floor and let out a soft groan, already starting to doze off. A small tap on my door jolted me back to wakefulness, sending a fresh wave of panic over me. To make sure I wouldn't look too suspicious, I thought last minute to smear some of the blood off my forehead onto the corner of my nightstand and pull my blankets off of my bed into a pile around me.

"Ash, honey are you alright? I thought I heard you up so I came in to chec... Oh my God, Ashley what happened?"

"I think I wass dreaming and I musthave fell out of bed." I tried to make my voice sound sleepy, but it sounded more like a drunken slur. "I think I hit my head."

"On what? Is it bleeding?"

"Yup, I think I hit it on my nightstand, I'm okay though. Just, tired."

"Well I'll get you a bandage then you can get some more rest, okay?"

After she left the room, I picked myself up off the floor and heaved a sigh, I hated lying to my mom. Ever since she and dad adopted me and my brother, it's all been secrets and lies. Secrets about my "gift", lies about where I go at night or where I get the nasty cuts and bruises, the only one that knows is my brother Thomas. He's known ever since he saved me from the fire that killed our birth parents, he helped me keep my "issue" under control and how to properly use it without unintentionally hurting anyone.

Once I'm bandaged up, mom kisses me goodnight and turns out the light, leaving me in the pitch black room. Three more days, I thought. Three more days and I won't have to worry anymore about hiding everything from her or dad about my "secret" life. I'll be off to college and will only have to worry about a stranger finding out about me or failing an expensive course. Hopefully that's all I need to worry about, if not, I don't know what I'll do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sienna

I slammed the tailgate on my truck shut and brushed my hands on my worn jeans. Heaving a sigh, I thought to myself, Do I really want to do this? Should I leave him on his own? I tore my gaze away from the back of my truck into my dad's eyes, seeing a look I haven't seen in his cold hard stare for a long time; regret.

When I was eleven, my parents divorced after my dad confessed to being gay and in love with a former client. Mom was furious so she packed up and left, taking everything with her, including me. She never let me go visit, saying that having any sort of relations with gay people would send me to hell, as she was a very hardcore Christian. So when I was sixteen and came out as a lesbian, I was kicked to the curb within a month, full of disappointment and pain, and was sent with a warning never to show her my face again and that I was going straight to hell. I had nowhere to go except the only place I'd be accepted; my dad's open arms.

At the same time I was booted out, my dad had been in a relationship with his past client Carl and were happily living together. Three months after I moved in, my dad proposed to Carl and planned to have the wedding once I turned eighteen. It was going to be a small wedding, just immediate family and close friends. Everything was going to be perfect, except that the wedding never got to happen.

Carl was driving, on his way to the rehearsal dinner when he was hit by an intoxicated driver on the highway. He had to be airlifted to the hospital because of the critical condition of his fragile body; the drunk driver was dead before the ambulance showed up, his chest crushed by the steering wheel. When we got to the hospital, there was nothing more the doctors could do for Carl, he wasn't going to make it. He held mine and my dad's hands, telling us to look out for each other and to do great things for this screwed up world. On his last breath he choked out, "I love you guys." And then he was gone, stolen from our lives too soon.

I felt a strong hand rest on my shoulder, snapping me back into reality and tugging me into and embrace. When we pulled apart, I stared into my dad's eyes, staring deep into vivid green. Tears welled up in my eyes, I fought to keep them contained, but one escaped and trickled down my cheek, betraying how I really felt. I could tell my dad was trying his hardest not to cry, but he wasn't as good as hiding his emotions like I was.

"You be careful out there baby, ok? There are nasty people out there who will hate on you for no apparent reason, but you look at them straight in the eye and sass them until they go running back to their mommies. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course I can, I'm not afraid to cuss people out and then stomp on their self esteem. I'll be fine."

"That's my girl," he patted my shoulder and smiled at me. "And if you find another nice girl, bring her over so I can meet her, ok?"

"I probably won't get a girlfriend my first year of college, but if I do, I will. I promise."

"Good, now off you go or you'll hit all the traffic downtown with all the idiots and assholes in their nests waiting to cut you off."

"Oh dad, you never cease to amaze me. I love you, take care of yourself."

"You too."

With a turn of my keys and a wave, I was about to be on my own in the real world.